Republican Gov. Bill Owens threatened Tuesday to call a special legislative session if the Colorado Supreme Court refuses to reverse its “arrogant” decision banning a November ballot measure to eliminate state services to illegal immigrants.
The court ignored years of legal precedent and decided the case based on its own feelings, Owens said. That denied voters “a say in one of the most important public-policy debates of our time.”
The court is controlled by Democratic appointees.
Democratic leaders said Republicans were trying to score political points. The special session is unnecessary because the Democratic-controlled legislature just passed more immigration-reform bills than any other in history, they said.
Proponents of the ballot question and Republican Attorney General John Suthers said they plan to ask the court to reconsider its decision.
But Owens said he is “not optimistic” the court will reverse itself.
“Should the court stick to its opinion that this initiative cannot be on the ballot, it’s likely that I’ll call a special session of the state legislature to consider this issue,” Owens said. He said he will make a decision if the court does not act in “the next several weeks.”
Both sides welcomed the potential legislative debate.
Dick Lamm, a leader of the group Defend Colorado Now, said he admires Owens’ “guts” and thinks the court’s ruling was part of a “political agenda.”
“People are really mad at the question of illegal immigration, and it’s not going to go away,” Lamm said. “They want a chance to vote on it.”
The ballot issue would ban all but federally mandated education and emergency services to illegal immigrants. It sparked debates about whether its impact would be inconsequential, money-saving or full of potentially conflicting unintended consequences that could affect everything from immunization programs to trash pickup.
The court ruled the measure’s effects were so broad, it could prevent illegal immigrants from taking title to property or accessing civil courts.
Federico Peña, chairman of Keep Colorado Safe, said a special session would allow local governments and sanitation, library, health care and other districts to publicly demonstrate the measure as a “costly and ineffective proposal to deal with immigration.”
“I am not afraid of having public hearings on this issue because I think, at the end of the day, it will be clear, at least to reasonably minded people, that this proposal doesn’t work,” Peña said.
If he calls lawmakers back to Denver, Owens said he could ask them to refer a constitutional amendment, which would require a two-thirds majority, or a statutory change to the ballot, which would need only a simple majority. He also could request that they pass a law. However the call might be crafted, Owens would need buy-in from the Democrats, who control both chambers.
Democrats passed a number of immigration measures during the regular session, including making human smuggling and trafficking a felony. But they killed some of the more hardline Republican proposals, including bills that would have required schools to ask students’ immigration status and made employers liable for the criminal activity of illegal workers.
Democratic Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald said she thinks the state has already done “what’s possible.”
Owens made his threat at the urging of House Republican Leader Mike May and 16 of his Republican colleagues. The legislature, May said, “should give the citizens their day at the ballot box.”
Democratic House Majority Leader Alice Madden said most of the measure’s prohibitions are already covered by state and federal law. “I’m not sure what the point would be. If Mike May wants to spend $100,000 of taxpayer dollars to score political points, I think that’s a huge waste of time and resources,” she said.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter, who did not support the measure, said the court ruling saves the state a debate on a symbolic, “political wedge issue.”
Some may argue that the ruling helped Democrats because it kept an issue off the ballot that drives the Republican faithful to the polls, Ritter said.
But, he said, there are many unaffiliated and Republican voters who understand immigration is a complex problem, which the ballot question didn’t solve.
Spokesmen for both Republican gubernatorial candidates, Bob Beauprez and Marc Holtzman, said the candidates approve of Owens’ decision and would have done something similar had they been governor.
It’s unclear what party has more to win or lose in a special session because immigration issues cross party lines.
Staff writer Karen Crummy contributed to this report.
Staff writer Chris Frates can be reached at 303-820-1633 or cfrates@denverpost.com.
